Everybody is playing nice and being cordial. That doesn’t mean the concerns don’t lie underneath.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, who publicly support Hanley Ramirez’s decision to play winter ball and in the World Baseball Classic, go into spring training thinking Ramirez is their starting shortstop, and Ramirez believes the same. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but the fact that Ramirez has become a defensive liability at the position and has gotten virtually no work at the spot this winter is a real concern for the Dodgers.

Ramirez is playing in the Caribbean Series in Hermosillo, Mexico with his Dominican Republic winter ball team, but he has been relegated to a designated-hitter role because of a minor shoulder injury. That means no game-time work at the position at which the Dodgers need him to improve.

When asked about it by MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez at the Caribbean Series, Ramirez only wanted to discuss his current team.

“It’s all about representing the Domincan Republic,” Ramirez told MLB.com in Spanish. “I give everything for my country. You see a lot of players here in Mexico do the same. That’s a beautiful thing, when you sport your flag and your country across your chest.”

Ramirez is going to do that again in the WBC this spring, and with Jose Reyes, who displaced Ramirez from shortstop with the Miami Marlins last season, and Erick Aybar on that team, Ramirez isn’t likely to see an inning at the position during that tournament.

But he definitely needs the work.

In more than 503 innings at shortstop last season Ramirez was a defensive liability. He didn’t have the range the Dodgers needed and he was at minus-7 Defensive Runs Saved. He also was minus-3.8 in the Ultimate Zone Rating category. The Dodgers wanted Ramirez to work at the position during winter ball and the WBC, but the shoulder injury and the other names in front of him aren’t allowing that to happen.

“It’s really hard to say, ‘Don’t play for your country,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said in regards to Ramirez during a charity even this offseason. “I’m kind of torn. Selfishly, I’d like Hanley to be in camp playing short every day.”

But if the Dominican Republic advances deep into the WBC, there’s a possibility Ramirez won’t be with the Dodgers from the start of March until the final weekend of the month. That leaves Ramirez with maybe two weeks before reporting to the Dominican team and maybe a week before the season starts to have Dodger coaches work with him at short.

“He knows the expectations he’s going to face,” Ramirez’s winter ball manager and long-time confidant Audo Vicente told MLB.com. “He’s a player who has established himself in the big leagues, but he wants to keep putting up good numbers. He wants to keep having success in the big leagues, and that’s why he’s preparing so hard in the offseason and playing in the Classic and here in the Caribbean Series.”

It’s just that the Dodgers would like Ramirez to be preparing to be their starting shortstop on opening day.